In the market, there are different shapes and dimensions of adhesive wound dressings to be applied to skin wounds and which are usually formed by a strip of a thin flexible film having a non-adhesive face for handling the dressing, and another face provided with adhesive regions and whereto is affixed, usually in a median portion, an absorbent substract in the form of a pad, which will contact the skin in the wounded region. These adhesive wound dressings receive, during manufacture, protective tapes which are releasably adhered to the adhesive regions of the flexible film. The adhesive wound dressings are obtained from a strip of the flexible film already containing a plurality of pads spaced from each other by a predetermined value and covered by the protecting tape, said strip being submitted to a cutting operation during the manufacturing process of the adhesive wound dressings in a proper machine.
In the known processes for producing the adhesive wound dressings, each shape thereof is individually obtained from the same strip of flexible film, by a cutting operation in a proper machine, which is adjusted in relation to the pitch and shape characteristics of the adhesive wound dressing to be cut. For obtaining the adhesive wound dressings in each strip of a determined type of adhesive wound dressing, each pad which forms said dressings is individually placed onto the strip of flexible film, according to a predetermined constant spacing, as a function of the dimension of each dressing, said pads being placed aligned to each other and to the longitudinal axis of the respective strip of adhesive film and at a distance from each other, from the geometrical center of each two consecutive adjacent pads, which is previously defined as a function of the cutting pitch of the machine, which will always cut respecting the same distance between the pads. These positioning requirements result from limitations of the cutting machine.
In the conventional shapes of adhesive wound dressings, which are usually rectangular, each two consecutive adjacent adhesive wound dressings have a common lateral edge and each dressing further presents end edges, which are rounded, so as to allow a better adhesion of said dressing to the user's skin, without the risk of involuntary release therefrom, as it occurs with the rectilinear end edges.
This larger dimensioning in the end edge region generates excess material, which will be eliminated during the cutting operation, resulting in production losses.
In the known process for producing adhesive wound dressings, the continuous strip of flexible film has, adjacent to each of its lateral edges, a marginal strip portion which is discarded upon the cutting thereof from the adhesive wound dressings. These marginal strip portions result in losses which, due to said usually rounded shape of the adhesive wound dressings in its end edges, vary as a function of the shape and degree of roundness of the end edges of said adhesive wound dressings.